identity theft news stories on Newser

Dad Tried to Smear School Official With Porn Profile

John Johnson — Fri, 25 May 2012 17:02:35 CDT

A dad who was angry at the assistant principal of his son's elementary school tried to exact a modern form of revenge: He created a fake profile under the official's name at a porn site, then posted lewd photos and videos supposedly from the man, reports the Arizona Republic . He...

Man Steals Identity of ... One of World's Richest Men

Kate Schwartz — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 09:59:20 CDT

Ways to land in trouble: Go AWOL. Fund your AWOL lifestyle via identity theft. Snatch the identity of one of the world's richest men. So goes the case against Brandon Lee Price, who now faces bank fraud charges for allegedly swiping the identity of Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, reports the...

Identity Theft Probe Halted $1.4B in False IRS Refunds

Rob Quinn — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 01:14:22 CST

The Internal Revenue Service is cracking down on fraudsters as tax return seasons begins. The agency has stepped up efforts to prevent identity theft, and caught 260,000 bad returns last year, up from 50,000 in 2010, and prevented a total of $1.4 billion in bad refunds being...

Facebook Virus Gang Living in Luxury

Kevin Spak — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 08:40:10 CST

You might think a cabal of cyber criminals who'd ripped off 400,000 to 800,000 Facebook users would be on the run and living deep underground. You'd be wrong. The so-called "Koobface Gang," makers of a Facebook worm that's done just that, is living large in St. Petersburg, Russia,...

New Virus Hacks Your Bank Account, Covers Tracks

Kevin Spak — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 14:42:01 CST

For years, checking your bank account balance regularly online has been a pretty good way to guard against fraud—until now. An Israeli security firm has identified a new virus that not only steals the info fraudsters need to drain your bank account, it ensures you don't see those transactions...

Hacker Steals $500K From NYC Socialite

Dustin Lushing — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 16:09:36 CST

A billionaire Manhattan socialite got swindled out of about $550,000 last week after a hacker broke into her email account, reports the New York Post . The online bandit got access to personal information about Candia Fisher, a member of the Fisher Brothers real estate clan, and used it to...

Bride Goes to Jail on Wedding Day

Sarah Whitmire — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 12:01:05 CDT

Most brides pose for pictures between their wedding ceremony and reception ... but not like this. A Michigan woman’s day of wedded bliss was interrupted by a brief stint in the county jail, after police got a tip that the bride would be traveling back to the state for her wedding;...

Hackers Grabbed Data on 360K Citibank Customers

Mary Papenfuss — Thu, 16 Jun 2011 06:00:00 CDT

Citibank has finally 'fessed up that hackers managed to grab account data on a whopping 360,083 US credit card customers. That's nearly double what the company initially revealed when it said 1% were affected, which equals about 210,000 customers based on its 2010 annual report, reports AP . Hackers...

Hackers Had Little Trouble in Citigroup Breach

John Johnson — Tue, 14 Jun 2011 13:34:05 CDT

News that hackers busted through Citigroup's online defenses and stole information on 200,000 customers is bad enough. The New York Times makes it worse with two additional points: The hack itself was relatively easy, and we should expect a lot more similar attacks in the near future. “If you...